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Play New Year's Eve for regular Bar Pay, or No?
- Thread starter 51PRI
- Start date
Yep, it's a good one, makes a lot of really cool seniors happy.
- Dec 13, 1999
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- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
If I’m playing somewhere and somebody is making money from that, some of that money belongs to me. I love playing music, I’ve been doing it a long time, and I only take NYE gigs that are stone jazz gigs, so there are NYEs that I sit home.
The thing about steady gigs is that you get paid (the rest of the year) the same thing on nights that are slow as you do on nights that are busy. And that goes for holiday rates, don’t forget those nights you made your good regular bread when there were only 3 people in the place and you got to go home early. So yes, it doesn’t matter if the club is charging $200 per person for NYE, they supported you now you support them.
The thing about steady gigs is that you get paid (the rest of the year) the same thing on nights that are slow as you do on nights that are busy. And that goes for holiday rates, don’t forget those nights you made your good regular bread when there were only 3 people in the place and you got to go home early. So yes, it doesn’t matter if the club is charging $200 per person for NYE, they supported you now you support them.
I've never been to a nice place on New Years Eve unless I was playing...free drinks and breakfast at 12:15.
Uh, whut?!?
Nope. Regular pay maybe but NEVER FREE! Never ever ever play for free especially a XMAS/NYE gig!
Never play for free or drinks. It makes it that much more difficult for bands that want REAL compensation and respect.
The places where I've paid, that had higher prices, it was a fixed price that covered the meal, so it would have been hard to figure out the premium.
An offer leans toward win-win for both parties. A request leans toward one party asking a favor of the other.
Thanks to everyone in this thread. It has helped me to form coherent arguments explaining to Drummer why we don't want to repeat last year's NYE fiasco. We have an ongoing discussion of "we know we're good, how do we get established in town?" I'm suggesting that if we're going to play some cheap gigs to test the sets and establish a rep, we should play, you know, cheap gigs. Not wreck NYE for some band (an ourselves in the future).
Heck if you can make more at a house party than at a bar gig, I'd pick the house party any day.
Heck if you can make more at a house party than at a bar gig, I'd pick the house party any day.
So re-reading the OP - it’s one of those rare holiday weekends where we get a Fri/Sat. If the pub is offering you a double, then if keeping gear setup is a viable option, it could be worth it.
I’d certainly ask my “friend” the owner for some perks like how about some early dinners for the band and spouses so we don’t get in trouble, and a bar credit for libations (if not already part of the deal).
I don’t know … if you don’t have any other pressing offers this could be a good two nighter for the group to get their party on.
If the owner is truly a peer and you see mutual benefit, then go for it.
A quick look at the calendar shows NYE on a Sunday next year … so it might be nice to have something somewhat “regular” on the books.
I hope I book a juicy double this year!
I’d certainly ask my “friend” the owner for some perks like how about some early dinners for the band and spouses so we don’t get in trouble, and a bar credit for libations (if not already part of the deal).
I don’t know … if you don’t have any other pressing offers this could be a good two nighter for the group to get their party on.
If the owner is truly a peer and you see mutual benefit, then go for it.
A quick look at the calendar shows NYE on a Sunday next year … so it might be nice to have something somewhat “regular” on the books.
I hope I book a juicy double this year!
No, it isn't two nights in a row. IIRC it's a night in November and then NYE. When we played there in the past we got free food and drinks. I don't think the BL has even asked him about that.
The problem with going in cheap...means you have kind of set the bar.
Places will give you a date because you are cheap or they are cheap so breaking that for next time round is difficult.
I dont think it is helpful in the long run and I'd avoid it. If a venue needs to operate like that, then I don't pursue it.
Places will give you a date because you are cheap or they are cheap so breaking that for next time round is difficult.
I dont think it is helpful in the long run and I'd avoid it. If a venue needs to operate like that, then I don't pursue it.
Not sure if things are the same now but when I was active we'd charge the venue 2x (because our sound guy charged us 2x and admission to the venue was 5x). Did this until we landed a regular NYE gig on the USS Intrepid where we consistently charged 3x to 4x.
Played in the big, below deck bay. The sound was awfully boomy (steel walls/ high ceilings and nothing but sequins, hairdos and tux's to absorb sound). Also load in load out was harrowing because only Teamster could handle the movement on and off the ship, even instruments. Our stuff would disappear/ reappear for 30 minutes (but never ever experienced an issue).
Played in the big, below deck bay. The sound was awfully boomy (steel walls/ high ceilings and nothing but sequins, hairdos and tux's to absorb sound). Also load in load out was harrowing because only Teamster could handle the movement on and off the ship, even instruments. Our stuff would disappear/ reappear for 30 minutes (but never ever experienced an issue).
Nope. NYE needs to be combat pay for me.
I was assaulted by a drunk while tearing down two NYE gigs ago. I ended up knocking him off the stage, and he and his friend were both hauled off to jail by off-duty Dallas PD, one charged with D&D, the other with and assault.
Last NYE gig went better, though there were still a disproportionately high number of drunks out driving, despite ride share option availability.
Though the main thing for NYE gigs is it's the ONE night each year where gigs are available with much-closer-to-fair-pay, and I'd rather stay home if that pay isn't there.
I was assaulted by a drunk while tearing down two NYE gigs ago. I ended up knocking him off the stage, and he and his friend were both hauled off to jail by off-duty Dallas PD, one charged with D&D, the other with and assault.
Last NYE gig went better, though there were still a disproportionately high number of drunks out driving, despite ride share option availability.
Though the main thing for NYE gigs is it's the ONE night each year where gigs are available with much-closer-to-fair-pay, and I'd rather stay home if that pay isn't there.
Well, I just found out at last week's gig that we DID take the NYE gig, and just for regular bar money. It's really weird because the BL has said many times that he didn't want to play NYE ever, and now for him to book it at regular bar rates doesn't make sense. He usually quotes fairly high prices.
With pay in general not having increased for many years and my not having needed bass gigs as a significant part of my income I just apply the same yardstick to NYE as I do any other gig these days.
Will I have fun playing with those players?
Do I like the venue?
Does parking suck?
Do I have anything better to do?
Will I have fun playing with those players?
Do I like the venue?
Does parking suck?
Do I have anything better to do?
Makes me glad to not be in a BAND per se any more. I like being able to accept gigs on ICB, and I'm guessing there aren't any BL's I currently work with who'd question someone being unavailable for low scale on NYE.
This isn't to say you can't make the best of it. Are you guys playing NYE in a no-cover-charge situation where you can get away with putting out a tip jar? IME, the more drunks in a room, the better the tips, with some subtle "guidance" from the bandstand.
What works really well for us is an extra large, clear plastic tip jar, like what comes with cheese balls. Once you get about $50-$75 in a smaller tip jar, people figure you're already taken care of and stop putting more money in. We've had $200+ tips on just regular bar nights with the bigger jars. $400 in tips on a NYE wouldn't be a stretch.
As far as "subtle guidance" goes, I like to point out the tip jar early and often. I do it with classic southern charm and grace. "Good evening to our esteemed guests - hope ya'll are doing well. Just a quick public service announcement before we get started. THIS motherf****r is a TIP jar. There's one up here; There's another one at the bar for your servers and bar tenders. Thank you for your kind and respectful attention". Then BANG, downbeat. One BL I work with asks me if I would do my tip jar announcement. I guess if it ever pisses off bar management, he can blame me instead of taking the fall, "I know what you mean - I'll fire the sonofabitch". ;-)
We do ok with tips.
